Hokkaido: Model Special Zones for the Doshu System Concept: The Potential for Institutional Restructuring to Reshape Environmental Policy in the Early 2000s

Hokkaido: Model Special Zones for the Doshu System Concept: The Potential for Institutional Restructuring to Reshape Environmental Policy in the Early 2000s
Hokkaido became the subject of discussion as a candidate for model special zones for the introduction of a doshu system because of the limitations of the administrative system that Japan was facing in the early 2000s and the momentum for restructuring regarding the entities responsible for implementing environmental policy.

Since the late 1990s, decentralization reform had been underway in Japan, and authority was being transferred in stages from the national government to local governments. However, there was a growing recognition that the current institutional framework was creating inefficiencies in areas with wide-area characteristics, such as waste treatment and energy policy.

Hokkaido, with its geographical characteristics of vast area and low population density, had limitations in completing waste treatment and energy supply at the municipal level. The Doshu system is an idea to redesign the administrative units themselves and take advantage of economies of scale through wide-area administration.

At the same time, concerns were raised about the reflection of regional characteristics and the burying of the will of smaller local governments. The Doshu System Model Special Zone Concept was an issue that demonstrated the possibility of changing the very framework of environmental business and environmental policy through institutional reform.